Bringer of Winter- a M/M/M Epic Fantasy Romance

22- Monsters

KHIF—

After the fight Ryker, Tye and I were led back to Master's manor to bathe and be taken to the palace. I walked in a daze, letting the two men who gripped at my arm drag me from the Courtyard to the screams of the crowd. I could see the prince wanted to say something, his mouth opening and closing, but I ignored him.

The gryphon's mind just before I ended her life would never leave my own thoughts. She had been honored to be killed by me, and grateful I had finally freed her from the horror and captivity she had been stuck in for so long. As she lunged for the prince, her mind had been empty, but finally as the sword in my hands entered her heart there had been clarity. Total clarity as I stared into her eyes and saw her spirit leave her.

She was only grateful.

Since I had been in the land of the Nelek they had forced many things upon me. I had been forced to murder many, to fight for my life, to leave my own soul and self behind to become what they wanted from me, but this was by far the worst thing they had made me endure. I had killed a precious creature of the gods. Surely I would be damned for this. Surely my soul could blacken no more. Surely Wal'yah would never open her arms to me again.

My agony was nothing to the joy, the jubilation of the crowd, and as horrible as that, the pain and yet gratitude of the other two gryphons. Gods, I could never be forgiven.

Pushing the thoughts from my head to keep myself sane, I reveled in Ryker's grip on my shoulders, his warmth against my own. This was just one more thing to add to the list of things I would torture the Pryn prince for inflicting on me. On my people. On those I should be loyal to.

But the one thought that I couldn't force from my mind, the one I knew Ryker begged to ask, was why? Why had I killed the gryphon rather than letting her try to kill the prince? I tried to convince myself that it was so she would have an honorable death by her master rather than one of torture and degradation by the people of Pryn who thought of the gryphon as mere animals. But there was something else. A thought that niggled at me until I wanted to bash my own head against a wall just to get it out. 

I had done it to protect the prince. 

By the time Ryker and I were dressed, the sun was fading to a soft pink and orange on the horizon. Myertha, how I missed the snow. It was spring now, it would be beginning to thaw in Nibea, to drip off the trees and the ice crystals to sparkle in the sunlight. Instead, I was in a hell where there was no change in season.

"There are three seasons here— hot, sweltering, and raining," Ryker had complained many, many times in the years we had been in Pryn.

Despite the fights— or, more accurately, because of them— we were treated well by Master. He gave us anything we wanted, we were fed well, and we were always allowed to fight together. We made him a lot of money, and he showed us his gratitude with longer, private baths, clothing and other presents, more freedom than any of the other gladiators were given, and many times by inviting us to parties. We didn't enjoy them by any means, but he liked to show us off. Or, more accurately, show me off. Because he still couldn't— or wouldn't— speak Nelek, and he was unsociable and violent towards his guests, Master usually forced Ryker to go home after he had escorted me to the party. At first, this had sent Ryker into a rage, but I had calmed him and after a half dozen parties where I had returned unsullied he had grudgingly accepted my new lot.

During the parties, I was a source of talk— gossip— and that was pretty much it. I ate little of the heavy foods and simply sat in the shadows to be gawked at and smiled if anyone tried to talk to me. But most didn't. Most assumed I couldn't speak Nelek, and those who knew differently were afraid to be too near me.